Modest hero saves trapped woman from certain death
Published: November 21, 2005
Leon Kaipo has an aversion for exercise, especially running.
But when the Ruakaka man saw a burning car and heard piercing screams, he didn’t hesitate to sprint.
The 38-year-old has been labelled a hero after he pulled a Whangarei woman and a dog from the car minutes before it was engulfed by flames. [Everyday Heroes : Inspiring Stories of Ordinary People Who Made a Difference]
Police and firefighters applauded his bravery, saying if he had not dragged the 43-year-old from the crash on Thursday evening she would have died.
Whangarei police Constable Peter Mayne said he would recommend Mr Kaipo and two other men who helped rescue the woman for “Highway Hero” awards.
“Thirty seconds later and she would have been dead,” Mr Mayne said.
But Mr Kaipo was adamant he was just an ordinary guy who felt he should help someone in need.
“I’m sure anybody would have done the same. You don’t think about it, you just do it because it’s the right thing to do,” the father of five said.
Mr Kaipo’s heroic act began when he passed a man waving frantically on State Highway One, 3.5km south of the Ruakaka turn-off, around 6pm.
Mr Kaipo, who was driving to Waipu with his family to pick up his 14-year-old daughter, turned his vehicle around and asked the man, Patrick Barnes, what was wrong.
Mr Barnes had seen the woman’s car cross the centreline before flying 20 metres through the air, across a creek and into a tree.
Seeing flames erupting from the upside-down car’s bonnet, Mr Kaipo sprinted to the car while the woman screamed.
The car doors would not open so he grabbed a large branch and went to work on the window.
Another man, whose identity is unknown, used an extinguisher to douse the flames.
“The passenger window was three-quarters of the way up so I told the woman to cover her eyes and her dog and I smashed the window … . I said to hold on to me and I pulled her out,” Mr Kaipo said.
Two minutes later, the car was “all gone”, he said.
Mr Kaipo said the woman was in deep shock and was more worried about her dog than herself.
She was admitted to Whangarei Hospital with moderate injuries but was to have been released yesterday.
Her dog, believed to be a boxer, was not injured.
Yesterday, Mr Kaipo joked that running to the burning car was the most exercise he’d had in a while.
Ruakaka Fire Brigade station officer Mike Trail said firefighters spent about an hour and a half putting out the car and scrub fire.
He backed Mr Mayne putting the men’s names forward for a “Highway Hero” award.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: